BANGKOK, Thailand - Five small bombs planted by suspected insurgents exploded Tuesday outside banks and ATMs in Thailand's restive south, wounding two people, police said. Another three bombs were defused.
The attacks targeted state-run banks in Narathiwat province, one of three southern provinces gripped by a Muslim insurgency that has left more than 4,000 dead since 2004. The provinces are the only Muslim-majority areas in the predominantly Buddhist country.
All of the bombs were remotely controlled by mobile phones or digital watches and went off before the banks opened for the day, said Maj. Chaitat Inthanujit, the commander of Narathiwat's police force. Authorities defused an additional three bombs, also near ATMs at state-run banks.
A female street sweeper was wounded by a blast near a Krung Thai Bank branch in Muang district, and a 26-year-old man was wounded by an explosion in front of a Government Saving Bank in Ra-ngae district.
Initial investigations indicated the attacks were in response to recent attempts to curb violence in the south and not related to four blasts outside banks in the capital, Bangkok, on Saturday, Chaitat said.
Authorities have blamed the Bangkok attacks, which caused no injuries, on supporters of ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, though no arrests have been made. Those attacks came a day after the Supreme Court ordered $1.4 billion of Thaksin's assets seized for corruption during his time in office before being deposed by a 2006 coup.
The southern insurgents have made no public pronouncements but are thought to be fighting for an independent Muslim state. They frequently stage attacks at government-run offices and businesses.
